Chili's @ Jcube

It is my birthday! Hang out at the Chilli's. I thought Chili's is a Mexican food franchise but I just found out that the very first Chili's hamburger grill and bar started in Texas. Tex-Mex cuisine.

This is a very expensive cup of Lipton tea. $5 per cup for the soft drinks or tea but it is free flow so you can drink as much as you want. We made sure we drink at least 2 cups to make full use of our bucks!

A very interesting fact about Chili's is that all the prices of the food are in whole numbers. Like this Bacon ranch chicken quesdillas is $18. No decimal points! I like! I really love the taste of the quesdillas. I'm not sure how this is to be eaten but here is what we did. We stuff the tomatoes and lettuce in the quesdillas and put the sour cream on top and dip it into the dressing!

The chicken is tender and juicy and so are the tomatoes and lettuce. The sour cream and ranch dressing combined with the smoked taste of the chicken wrapped and slightly sour tomatoes wrapped with chewy toasted quesdilla is really fresh. Really appetizing.

Next is the Crispy honey-chipotle chicken crispers - $23. The serving is really huge, it can be share between two person.

For this dish, you can choose two sides from the menu so I choose the french fries and mashed potatoes. The staff was really nice and gave an additional cup of gravy when requested. French fries are thick and goes well with the tar tar sauce.






























The mashed potatoes has a smoke taste and is rich and creamy. It has a lumpy texture and the potato skins are found in it as well. The mashed potatoes goes well with the tartar sauce too.

The chicken strips are really crispy and the outside and juicy and tender on the inside. The only complain I have is that the spicy honey sauce is a little too sweet and gets a little cloying on the second strip I had.

Here comes dessert! Chocolate chip paradise pie - $9. I think the combination of warm pie and the cold vanilla ice cream really tops this treat. I love the hot fudge and caramel drizzle with nuts bits that adds to the texture of the ice cream. The pie is a layer of coconut and a layer of walnut that is soft and sweet like brownie. A spoon of ice cream and pie is heavenly!

Rating: 4.5/5 I'm very impressed with the savory food and the staff are really friendly. The food are slightly pricey but definitely recommended.

Gelateria Italia @ Jcube

Ice cream treat of the week at Gelateria Italia!

Two scoop of ice cream on a waffle cone for $7.90. It's a little pricey but this is really delicious. I really like the chewy texture of the gelato and the toppings (chocolate rice, rainbows and tiny marshmallows) are free to add on our own.

One of them is dark praline truffle. I love the thick, rich and slightly bitter chocolate. Hidden in it are one or two chocolate chunks that melts in the mouth. The other one is some cookie, I can't remember. It tastes like buttermilk. Waffle cone is crispy that goes well with the chewiness of the gelato. Sinful indulgence!

Rating: 4/5

Sour Squirms - The Natural Confectionery Co.

Introducing my all time favorite - The Sour Squirms! (Made in Australia) I love sour candies, I can just pop them in my mouth, one after another.

Location: NTUC, Jurong East
Price: $3.90 per pack























I love the colors!
Flavors:
Red: Raspberry
Orange: Orange
Yellow: Banana
Green: Lime
 Purple: Blackcurrant

Coated with sugar but the worm itself is sour. The company is well known for using natural ingredients and colorings are extracted from fruits and vegetables. I love the gummy texture of the worm and the best part is it doesn't stick on my teeth. My favorite is the purple-green worm. Indeed, candies made from fruit juice taste like the real deal unlike many of the fake plastic flavor candies. Real ingredients = great quality.

Chewy and soft. Delectable treats!

Rating: 4/5

Astons @ Jurong East

This is the first time I order Astons takeaway. I usually eat at the outlet.
 Chargrill chicken with 2 sides: $6.50

I really don't know if the staff gave me an extra portion of the pasta salad or it was meant to be that much.

I figure that the two spaces are meant for two sides so the staff did give me an extra portion. The pasta salad was really off standard. Very diluted unlike the creamy ones I usually have. This is sour and bits of pepper made it bitter. Two portions didn't brighten my day.

On the underhand, the chargrill chicken is delicious. The meat is really tender and the portion that Astons gives is bigger than that of Chargrill. This is one juicy chicken cutlet and the mushroom gravy goes really well with it. Very well cook.

The vegetables in the garden salad is really fresh. I love the tomatoes. The sauce is ridiculously sour. I scraped some out. Other than that, it is fine.

Rating: 3/5 I really want to give it a 2.5 because of the pasta salad but the chicken saved it.

Hot Tomato Express @ Dhoby Ghaut

Location: 68 Orchard Road Plaza Singapura, #B2-40 Singapore 238 839

Hanging out with my friend! I like Hot Tomato because their portion speaks for their price. Not that it is really expensive but the portion is rather satisfying.

Add $3.50 to a meal and get a soup of the day (For that day was tomato soup) and one tiny garlic breadstick plus a cup of drink. (I got lime juice) I learnt it the hard way, not to order acid drinks with tomato soup. I didn't finish the juice. The tomato soup is really appetizing. Slightly sour tomato broth with herbs. Great dip for the garlic bread.

Main course: Pork N sausage. - $9.90 Comes with Aglio Olio spaghetti, leafy and a cup of gravy that taste like the mashed potato sauce.

 I love the taste aglio olio. Made out of simple ingredients like olive oil, herbs, garlic and chopped parsley yet so delicious. The pasta is well cooked and in my opinion much better than Pasta Mania.

Chipolata sausages is a little soft. I would love it more it the skin is crispier. The pork chop is  very springy and well seasoned. The mashed potato dip goes well with the pork chop and sausages. Pretty filling dish for a $15++ meal.


Rating: 4/5 I really like this. The service is pretty fast and the food is awesome.

You can visit their website here: Hot Tomato

Lao Ban Soya Beancurd - Old Changi Airport Road

Location: Blk 51 Old Airport Road #01-127/107, (390051), Maxwell Road Food Centre #01-91 (060000)

Lao Ban Takeaway : $1.50 for the plain soya beancurd

Used to eat beancurd on Saturday mornings with my family when I was younger. To me, beancurd  always taste more or less similar but Lao Ban changed my opinion of beancurd. This is really good stuff and taste like no other.

The stall is opened by an old couple from Hong Kong and the Lao ban logo is pretty sweet.

It looks like the usually beancurd but with "wrinkled skin". The texture is silky and smooth. It slips down the throat and has a very fragrant pandan and soya taste. Unlike the usually beancurd, this one is more milky. It is like drinking soya bean milk.

Their soya bean curd is the best I'd ever tasted in Singapore and there are usually long queues for this awesome dessert. Reservations can be made. Definitely recommended.

Rating: 4/5

For more information, you can visit their facebook page at Lao Ban Soya

Wavve @ Orange Tee Building

So I decided to try out the groupon deal at Wavve Grill and Chill with a friend of mine.

Location: 430 Toa Payoh Lorong 6 Level 1 - 01 Orange Tee Building Singapore 319402

Price: The Juztoday groupon deal is $28 exclusive of service charge and gst. (around $4.75)

Timing: 11-3pm (That means you have to leave by 3pm) only for weekends.

We had to sit outside because something went wrong with our reservations but it wasn't too bad. It is slightly windy although the aircon in the restaurant was still much better.

First of all, there isn't much variety of choices available and the food below are pretty much what was being offered on that day but the food are actually quite savory. They have free flow drinks but there are only 2 to choose from. Sprite or Coke.

On this plate, grilled dory fish, scrambled eggs, creamy cauliflowers and hashbrowns. A pretty heavy breakfast. Just the usual, nothing much to comment. However, what I do like is the dory fish. Very well seasoned and tender.

Grabbed a plate of salad with thousand island sauce and corn, sushi (Only 3 types: Ebi,  Uramaki and Inari), potato salad, chicken, penne pasta. Sushi is good but I couldn't find my salmon sushi I saw on Juztoday. Sigh* Anyway, the vegetable salad is fresh. I like the potato salad - very creamy and the potatoes are just nice, not too hard, not too soft. The chicken is very tender and was chopped by a chef at the buffet counter. 

At this point, we started noticing there are a lot of carbohydrates like sushi rice, fried rice, fried silver needle noodle (a.k.a lao shu fen), garlic bread and spaghetti that is making us really full. Here is some fried silver needle noodle, pork chops, roasted pork, fried rice, garlic bread pizza. All these tasted okay but the pork chops are a little tough.

More chicken. Creamy mushroom penne. You can choose from penne or spaghetti and the chef will cooked for you and it will be served to your table. The sauce is really good. At first the penne was a little hard but becomes slightly softer when we left it to sit at a corner for a while.

They do serve soup. This mushroom soup tasted like campbell soup but nonetheless good.

Dessert! There are fruits and some red dates qing tang but we didn't grab them. A little too full. We had the chocolate mousse and tiramisu.  The dessert is not served in minicups as shown on the Juztoday website. There are also no fruit tarts available. I scooped these yummy from a square bowl. However, I must say the dessert is really awesome. I love the mousse. Very rich and thick cocoa. Bitter sweet so I guess this is the real deal.  The tiramisu is really creamy and I love the sponge cake that is soaked in coffee. Really delicious.

Rating: 3.6/5 

I couldn't find some of the food displayed on the Juztoday website so honestly I'm a little disappointed. However, I would still recommend going there though, considering the fact that it was just a mere $16++ for so much food. The dessert makes it pretty worth it to go back again. The ambiance is kinda chill and I like the fact that it isn't too packed and there are many seats left. Some thing you see less often in this super packed country.

PastaMania @ Westmall

Dinner at Pasta Mania with my family.

A little introduction: PastaMania started in Singapore by an Englishman in 1998, who wanted to make Italian food affordable.

Chicken Ham & Sausage Baked Rice - $8.60

This is quite a shallow baking dish so the portion isn't a lot. I couldn't quite make out the taste of the homemade sauce. It is kinda tomato-ey, creamy cheese bake rice. Love the mushrooms.

Cappuccino - $3.40 Cappuccino is an italian drink prepared with Espresso, steamed mik & froth. Without adding the sugar provided, it is slightly bitter and milky. I love the foam.

Meatballs Spaghetti - $8.90

The usual spaghetti. This is a little watery. I would like it better if the sauce is a little thicker. The meatballs are a little overcooked and hence a little dry and tough. The spaghetti on the hand is well cooked.

Cheese Sticks - $3.90 This is my favourite dish from PastaMania. Love the crispy breadcrumbs. Eating an entire cheese stick is awesome. Very creamy and gooey. If you are afraid of a strong cheesy taste,  try dipping it in the chilli sauce. It cover the strong cheese aftertaste in the mouth.

Seafood Zuppa - $7.90 I don't really like soupy pasta. This one is quite a mild tasting soup. This is not spicy at all, in fact it taste like tomato soup with diced prawns and squid rings in it. If you don't like rich creamy food, you can have a go with this light soup. 

Vongole Spaghetti - $8.90 The clams are really small. Not really worth it in my opinion. 

Smoked Salmon $ Squid Ink Risotto - $9.90 

I'd never tried this before and I have no idea what it was initially. I just wanted to try something new. Basically the black grains are actually Arborio rice cooked with squid ink hence the color. Arborio rice is a type of Italian short-grain rice. The grain size are larger and rounder. I really like the texture of the rice. It taste very refreshing. I think there is some lemon juice and parmesan cheese cooked together with the rice as well. I'd never tried smoked salmon before. I really the smoke taste and I think it goes well with the rice. This dish is pretty dope.

Rating: 3.4/5

A little disappointed with the spaghetti as I had tasted better. The cheese sticks and Risotto are definitely recommended.